SUGRA GOLF NEWS_1111.qxd - Bill Sugra Memorial Fund

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The BillSugra MEMORIAL FUND MISSION STATEMENT The BillSugraMemorialFund was established in memory of BillSugra, a compassionate, caring and loving young man whose life was tragically taken by the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center in New York City. The purpose of the fund is to encourage, support and assist the needy and disadvantaged to improve their lives during times of difficulty, regardless of location, race, religion, or gender. HOW YOU CAN HELP… Please send contributions to: The BillSugraMemorialFund c/o St. Thomas More Church 1040 Flexer Avenue Allentown, PA 18103 For information: sugramemorial@cs.com The BillSugraMemorialFund is a section 501(c)(3) charity and contributions are tax deductible. Thank you! Heading up our registration table were the dynamic duo of Mickey Jarvis and Sue Kerwin. They tackled any problems that came up and made the day run smoothly. We had about 20 kids from Embrace Your Dreams and the Boys and Girls Club of Easton, First Tee Program. We are so grateful to the golf pros (John Kulhamer, Dan Richie, Bob Arnts and Tony Chiv) who again gave of their time and energy to help the children. As always, it is a privilege to have them. "thanks to those who always give their time and engery to help the children" After the golfers registered and ate lunch, it was finally time to golf. The Lehigh Valley NOSC was on hand to present the colors, with BM2 (Petty Officer) Focarelli and three other officers doing the honors. The talented Gilbert family (Taryn-21, Tasia-20, Teara-18, Jewel-16, and Jorne- 14) sang the National Anthem. Everyone stood off to the side of their carts, hats off, hands over hearts, and tears in eyes as they sang. The applause was loud and long for the Gilberts' extraordinary and moving rendition of our anthem. Gregg Blaha gave some final instructions and Bill also thanked everyone for supporting us for the past 10 years. e nc o u r a g e, s u p p o r t a n d a s s i s t "We can have peace on earth, we can make our world a brighter, safer place, we can help the human race, but you got to use your own two hands." We have some other big news to share before we wrap up this Starter's Shack. Tripp William Sell was baptized August 13, 2011. Steven's brother Chris, his wife Traci and their children Kyle and Rylie flew in from California to share in this special family gathering. We are so blessed and happy for Steven, Tracy and our little bits Reagan and of course the star, Tripp William Sell. The baptism was Our family, Bill, Tracy and Steven THANK ALL OF YOU for sharing your hands, time, love and support. Because of you we were able to give away $88,000. We could not do this without you. Please mark your calendars for next year's event: August 24, 2012 and please register early. not complete, of course, until Reagan assisted Monsignor Murphy during the wiping of her brother's head. Also, please visit our website www.billsugramemorialfund.org to look at the pictures from the outing. We would love to hear any interesting news, funny stories, ideas or just learn why you golf with us. You can email me at esugra@cs.com and it might just wind up in the newsletter. If I missed anyone's name, please let me know and we will make sure to put you in our next newsletter. Thank you again, one and all. God bless, Bill, El, Tracy, Steven Reagan and Tripp Congratulations to this year’s top finishers: 1st place: Bill Heller Matt Scriff Pedro Torres and Thomas Gearhart 2nd place: Sean Scalley Steve Shultz Matt Sugra and Brian Murphy 3rd place: Rich Salezze Nick Salezze Angela Salezze and Troy Hein Continuing to MAKE A DIFFERENCE

SUPPORTERS! We had some special guests attending this year: U.S Representative Charlie Dent, Keith Groller, Margie Groller, Barbara Eifler, Yvonne & Joe McCarthy, John Gribowich, Monsignor Murphy, Father Hoffa and Father Mathur. We were so blessed to have Monsignor Murphy as our special guest speaker. Monsignor Murphy is part of our committee and knew Billy when he was in grade school. He shared some memorable moments about Bill and gave a moving and reflective speech. Father Hoffa, who is the chaplain at CCHS and is in residence at St. Thomas More, said the prayer. SPECIAL acknowledgments A great big thank you to our PLATINUM SPONSORS: Scott Dealerships, Plumbers Local #690, Christine Taylor Stiller and Ben Stiller, and Jim & Lynne Finnegan. We deeply appreciate your generosity. We would also like to share some amazing friends with you. It's hard to know where to begin with Sam and Mickey Jarvis, who have given us truly overwhelming love and support. First of all, Mighty Mickey and her sidekick Sam went to many area restaurants this year to ask for donations. A lot of the times Mickey would go on her lunch halfhour, and then after work Sam would tag along to form the fundraising Dream Team. They sent letters, made phone calls, and went way beyond the call of duty. It was unbelievable how many gift certificates that they were able to procure for us. Here is a list of businesses they went to and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their support: Allentown Brew Works, Armetta's Italian Restaurant & Pub, Art & Frame Shop, Cali Burrito, Carmen's Italian Restaurant, Cathy's Creative Catering, Center Valley Golf, Christmas Tree Shop, Dan's Camera, Dorneyville Beverage, Five Guys, Fogelsville Hotel, Golf Galaxy, Italiano Delite Restorante, Iron Pigs, Jack Creek Steakhouse, Just Kidstuff Inc., Kuhnsville Car Wash, Louie's Restaurant, McDonalds's - Hellertown, Penn Pizza, Roma Restorante, Sangria, Seward's Steak Shop, Shangy's - The Beer Authority, Superior Restaurant & Lounge, Target, The Brass Rail, The Burger Shack, The Great Allentown Fair, Valley Golf Shop, Williams Signs, and Willow Family Restaurant. We would also like to acknowledge Jeff and Liz Goldstein, who are dear friends of Geri Viola. While they weren't able to play in this year's golf outing like they had in the past, they sent a very generous donation to the MemorialFund. We were so deeply touched. In other news, we had a family wedding on our dear son Bill's birthday on August 6. We truly had a wonderful time at the beautiful wedding of Zach Sugra and the former Dana Clymer. They are a wonderful couple and you could really see the love in their eyes. What was extra special was they decided to donate the money they were going to spend on favors to Bill's MemorialFund. We had some touching and memorable moments this year from new friends. Woody Saylor gave our family the American Flag with all the names of the people who were tragically killed on September 11th. Doug Kirk was instrumental in securing the honor color guard. We had talked to BM2 (Petty Officer) Focarelli from the Lehigh Valley NOSC and were so touched that they came to present the colors. Troy Hein of WFMZ-TV Channel 69 presented Tracy with a mounted and framed American flag that flew in a combat helicopter in Afghanistan. The flag was obtained by Chief Master Sgt. Michael Schmidt, brother of Karl Schmidt. Karl is retired from the Air Force and always participates in our golf outing. Mike Sugra, Mick Sugra and Jim Nenschel were also instrumental in the surprise. This flag was part of Operation Enduring Freedom and was flown by the 33rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron on February 17, 2011 in memory of Bill and in support of the BillSugraMemorialFund. Our family was deeply touched by the sacrifice and the courage of all of our military. God Bless the USA!!!!! Troy also played in our outing and did two live broadcasts for WFMZ during the day. The song With My Own Two Hands by Jack Johnson and Ben Harper comes to mind when reflecting on the outing. Some of the lyrics are, "We can have peace on earth, we can make our world a brighter, safer place, we can help the human race, but you got to use your own two hands." Well, that is what each one of you did when you volunteered, participated, wrote us notes, called us on the phone or kept us in your prayers. We truly have a lot to be thankful for: friends, family, sponsors, golfers and volunteers. We sent off to the course 143 loyal golfers, old and new. Once again, we filled the field early and we thank all of you for your loyalty and dedication. Let me take the time to mention the new people and welcome them: Eric Feinour, Jerry Vancavage, Mike Grogan, Bob Haag, Bob Ciesielka, Ric Ciesielka, Chris Ciesielka, Joe Griffin, Fr. Alan Hoffa, Fr. Keith Mathur, John Soler, Ken Linehan, Paul Heffner, Kent Newhart, Tony Bodisch, Woody Saylor, Brian Richardson, Steve Farnesi and Dan Molesky. Please let me know if I forgot anyone. We had quite a few changes that day. Paul Eiffler from Ameriprise was back again on Hole 17, waiting to give away $10,000 for a hole-in-one. A golfer lucky enough to ace 17 would also have received two airline tickets contributed by Scott Family Dealerships. We had two new cars a Chevrolet Malibu, a Mazda and we had Ping golf clubs on Hole 6 provided by Scott Chevrolet. A great big thank you to Scott family dealerships and Ameriprise. We truly hoped that someone would have gotten that hole-in-one. Practice up golfers! Next year will be here before you know it. Of course, our beer cart specialists Roger Sell and Chuck Collins were on hand and had their cart stocked and ready to go. Bill was also proud to be driving the Cadillac of golf carts, borrowed from Monsignor Murphy. Our fabulous photographers, Jen and Geri, were again on hand, snapping away. They are so precious; they work from sunup to sundown and still have a smile on their faces at the end of the day. Our newsletter is the best because of the pictures they take. After golf, an exceptional evening got underway, with the Community Music Jazz Ensemble (under the direction of Clifford Tracy) playing music during the cocktail hour. On the piano was 17-year old Alexandra Gallagher, a student of CMS since she was five. Elysia Trapp was the singer; she's been taking piano lessons for several years at CMS and is a student at the performing arts school. They did an incredible job. We had quite a few of the parents of the students attend, and it was so special to be able to talk and thank each of them for bringing their children. We thank Carolyn Clarke (executive director of Community Music School) and her husband James so much for enhancing our evening with this talented group of children. During the cocktail hour our daughter Tracy showed a very special powerpoint presentation of our dear son and brother Bill, including pictures of the past 10 years. Bill, Tracy and I previewed it before the golf outing and the tears were just streaming down our cheeks. It was difficult to watch because of the memories, but our hearts were also touched to see the faces of so many dear friends who have made our golf outing successful and helped ensure that his spirit will always live on.